At Queen’s Bakery, Los Angeles

The worker points and says,You mean rice puffs?
I nod but think of the hero shot dead,
his rickshaw driver oblivious.

On Jogging in Hong Kong with My Daughter

Five years ago, I jogged alone—my first visit to the land of my birthafter a long absence.
I noted the tai chi practitioners’ slow elegance,toddlers’ first steps,old folks sitting still,other joggers apparently not noticing me—a rare sensationin Western Massachusetts,where neighbors make assumptionsabout where I’m from,what I do, who I am.

Today, my daughter jogs with me.
She notes the birds,asks what kind they are.I don’t know their species,but we concludethat they are Chinese.

Floyd Cheung was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Las Vegas. He teaches at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. His poems have appeared in the Apple Valley Review, the Bryant Literary Review, the Naugatuck River Review, Rhino, and other journals.

I like both poems but especially the first one–how lightly you handle the layers of your mixed cultures; the images work well!

Jane Thurber

January 9, 2012 at 10:34 am

The two poems are beautiful juxtaposed to each other. They certainly encourage us to wonder, and especially about how easily we make mistaken assumptions! Though you seem to be focused on cross cultural misunderstandings, can you also be suggesting the nature of much poetry — elusive and tantalizing?

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